The US Department of Energy has chosen a design to build a multibillion-dollar test nuclear reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory that could help develop fuels and technologies for advanced nuclear reactors.
The Versatile Test Reactor, or VTR, was proposed in 2018 by the Trump administration, and if Congress provides funding, would be the first fast nuclear test reactor to operate in the US in nearly three decades.
The VTR project did not get any money from Congress during fiscal year 2022. The DOE has submitted a funding proposal for fiscal year 2023.
In May the DOE published a final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the VTR, a 300-MW sodium-cooled, fast-neutron reactor will be the first new test reactor to be built in the US in decades.
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